Thoughts, outdoor lessons and ideas from a Scottish Primary School Teacher.

Parachute

Parachutes outdoors are great!

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Outdoor Learning Conference

Was at an Outdoor Learning conference all day today. Always good to hear from staff in other schools, sharing ideas etc. Some lovely ideas and good to hear about all the partnerships folk have developed in order to achieve their dream outdoor spaces.

Our task from the day is to get our own schools to use an outdoor space away from the school grounds. There was some debate about whether this was the best way forward for schools when the school grounds are being underused by teachers at the moment.

Which comes first - confidence in outdoor learning in school grounds or in a place a 10-15 minute walk away from the school? I'd be interested to know what you think?

4 comments:

Interestingly - it can be both! I've seen schools and nurseries run great Forest School sessions yet have neglected school grounds. I've seen people happy to teach lessons in school grounds but rarely go off-site.

I've got a super getting off-site course which comes from a sustainable and rights-based approach! Covers the practicalities and using the landscape in clever ways to teach so many strategies from avoiding getting lost to behaviour management. http://www.creativestarlearning.co.uk/training/beyond-the-boundaries-course.aspx

Thanks Juliet. It is worth me asking our staff which they would prefer. I think some teachers might prefer off site and start with forest school type activities. As long as everyone gets outside more. Your course sounds just what we need.

Judy - I'd be really interested to find out what works best for you, in the interests of sharing good practice with other schools and settings as Forest School Co-ordinator Scotland.I'm all for making the most of both school grounds and local woodland. School grounds have been used to develop skills and confidence before forays further afield. I'd be interested to know what characteristics make some teachers more drawn to one or the other.Have you or your staff been on Forest School training?

I think concentrating on school grounds at first allows confidence to develop. I have been asked to deliver some outdoor learning sessions to staff at my school next term so think I'll ask everyone where they would feel most comfortable starting and why. Will be interesting to see the responses.

None of the staff where I teach have done any forest school training but having visited the FEI Facebook site I am really interested in doing the training now!